Archive for the 'Eric Hurley' Tag Under 'Angels' Category

The Angels got an extra arm Friday, but Eric Hurley won't start Sunday's series finale against the Orioles. Instead his job will be to eat up as many innings as he can in relief until the Angels sort out their starting pitching rotation.

"He's got some length in him," manager Mike Scioscia said. "Which our bullpen … if you look at how many innings Carp's (Dave Carpenter's) thrown over the last week, we need some of that length to just relieve a little of those guys."

The relievers are indeed in need of some relief. In the past three games, Angels starters Dan Haren, Ervin Santana and Garrett Richards combined to pitch just 10 innings, giving up 25 hits and 22 runs. Amazingly, the Angels won the last of those games, rallying from a 7-3 deficit to beat the Orioles 9-7 on Thursday night, after which Richards was optioned to Salt Lake City.

Carpenter pitched four times in a span of eight days, giving up just one run in 9 1/3 innings.

Angels shortstop Jean Segura, who was rated the Angels' second best prospect in 2012 by Baseball America, was optioned to double-A Arkansas, and right-hander Eric Hurley was reassigned to minor-league camp on Sunday, bringing the roster to 41.

Segura, 22, was impressive in 11 games this spring both offensively and defensively. He batted .381 with two home runs, six RBI and four walks. He hit both home runs in Friday's split-squad game against the San Diego Padres in Peoria, Ariz.

“His tools are incredible,” said Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “Probably the biggest thing (that has been impressive this spring) is his growth as a shortstop, and I think he's starting to feel much more comfortable at that position….

Here's the big praise from Scioscia:

“On the offensive side, he (Segura) showed some really good plate discipline this spring, and as he grows and keeps developing, he has as much upside as anybody in that room.”

The Angels, like every team, are always signing minor league free agents. Minor league free agency is like an animated movie about anthropomorphized insects, and trust me, this metaphor isn't going to get any better when I explain it: There's a big system of characters moving around industriously, getting things done, being sort of sad but also uplifting, and largely unseen and irrelevant to the world above ground. Since the 2010 offseason, the Angels have signed Cory Aldridge, Nick Gournealt, Juan Mateo, Michael Ryan, Bobby Korecky, Daniel Davidson, Jeremy Hill, Daniel Cabrera, Eric Junge, Drew Meyer, Luis Figueroa, Charlton Jimerson, Ryan Vogelsong, Paul McAnulty, the other Ryan Braun, Gil Velazquez, Kevin Richardson, Kevin Melillo, Virgil Vazquez and Jeff Baisley as minor league free agents. On average, those players were 31 years old when they signed, and as a group they pitched a total of 0 innings and had a total of 72 plate appearances in the past two years for the Angels. Mostly, they filled out the Triple-A and Double-A rosters, and got older.

The Angels recently signed Eric Hurley to a minor league contract. While debating whether to spend time telling you about Eric Hurley, I considered whether Eric Hurley is notably different than Eric Junge, and whether Eric Hurley is likely to contribute to the Angels at the major league level. To the second question, probably not. He's perhaps ninth or 10th on the depth chart as a starter. To the first question, yes. Eric Junge turns 35 on Thursday. Eric Hurley is only 26. Eric Hurley is three months older than Mark Trumbo. And Eric Hurley used to be famous. It is a bit interesting that the Angels signed Eric Hurley.

Hurley was the Rangers' first-round pick in 2004. He struck out a batter per inning and had a 3.77 ERA in his full-season debut, as a 19-year-old. He had a good fastball, an OK slider and a poor changeup. "As with all 19 year-olds whose career is throwing a baseball in the low- to mid-90s, the potential for injury is the elephant in the room," Baseball Prospectus wrote before 2006. (That is foreshadowing to the rest of this piece. The fact that he was just signed to a minor league deal by the Angels is also foreshadowing.)

Hurley made Baseball America's top 100 twice. Back in 2007, the Rangers reportedly refused to give Hurley up for Carlos Gonzalez. The Pirates wanted him in a trade for Jason Bay, but the Rangers wouldn't do that either. He made his debut in 2008, when he was just 22. And that was it. This is the second-to-last batter he ever faced in the majors, back in July 2008: